B

Baroness Boycott (CB)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 September 2025

Debate

Global Plastic Pollution Treaty

Contribution

In some ways we have let the horse out of the stable, in that we are flooded with microplastics ourselves. It is in breast milk, it is in placentas, and it is causing extraordinary newly discovered health problems—two of which, specifically, I would like to highlight. One is about crop production, in which people are reckoning that within the next decade, the yields from common crops will be up to 25% less because of the microplastics going through our water system. My question is: what are the Government doing on that? The other really big problem is that cheap school uniforms are made of polyester, which goes into kids’ bloodstreams. The European Union is moving forward very fast to try to ban that, at least in children’s uniforms. I ask those two questions of the Government about what they are doing about the problems we are already in and cannot immediately get out of because these are forever chemicals.

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